This invention relates to an apparatus for lining the inner wall of a vessel with bricks. More particularly, this invention relates to a brick laying apparatus comprising an operating station capable of being lowered or raised inside a vessel; the operating station being provided with (1) means for intermediate storage of at least two brick pallets; (2) automatic means for handling the bricks, and (3) means for raising or lowering the pallets towards the operating station. The present invention, although not being limited thereto in its utility, is particularly well suited as an apparatus for laying a refractory lining on the inner wall of a metallurgical converter or similar vessel.
Various apparatus of the type hereinabove described (see, for example, LU-A-62236) have already been proposed for carrying out a job which, until recently, has usually been automatically carried out manually under extremely arduous conditions. Unfortunately, not all of the problems associated with automatic brick laying have been solved, so that, up to now, it has still not been possible to benefit systematically from the complete automation of the brick-lining operation; and the automatic apparatus intended for this purpose have remained at the project or test stage.
There are several reasons why automatic brick lining apparatus have not been perfected. First, the shutdown time of a converter (i.e., bricks) for the purpose of replacing its refractory covering is limited by interdependence on other metallurigical operations. Also, the complexity of the automatic movements to be carried out (by an automated brick laying apparatus) makes it difficult to achieve the necessary bricklaying rate required to adhere to this limited time schedule.
In this regard, it will be appreciated that the bricks have a frustoconical shape, so that they can form circular layers in accordance with the cross-section of the converter. Now, not only is every converter of a different size, but also, the diameter of each converter varies according to its height (because converters usually have a substantially oval vertical cross-section). Since it is not possible or feasible to make bricks to measure, two or more particular types of bricks of differing conicity are produced, and by carefully alternating the choice of these types, the desired curvatures corresponding to a particular converter are finally obtained.
Consequently, during the bricklining operation, at least one pallet of each type must be available on the platform of the operating station. Therefore, if a robot is used for the automatic laying of the bricks, this robot must be designed so that its arm can move automatically between the location where the bricks are to be laid and each of the two pallets, depending on the type of brick required. Although such a robot is technically possible, its production nevertheless presents new problems. First of all, the space required for storing two pallets and the sweeping range necessary for the movement of the robot increase the dimensions of the operating station, so that such automatic apparatus can only be used for converters exceeding a certain size. Furthermore, the amount of movement which the robot has to sweep over covers a large portion of the surface of the operating station and is a danger for the operator standing on the platform of this larger station. In addition, the rapid rotation of the long arms of the robot generates substantial forces of acceleration and deceleration, and these forces have to be absorbed by the walls of the converter via suitable supporting devices.